A Gurley Gurl: holidays

Going to do a big holiday photo dump and cover Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas for the Gurley Crew since January is almost over ha.

Halloween

Halloween looks a little different with bigger kids, and I'm not sure how I feel about that! Paige was the only kid who trick or treated with us this year, and she was an adorable bear. Drew was in a group costume with her friend group {Wizard of Oz and she was the Scarecrow} and spent the night at her bestie's house, and Trent hung out with his friends.

How cute are my girls? Paige wouldn't smile because 'bears don't smile' ha!

Drew is wearing my doc marten's from 1997! Also, long story short, we thought she broke her wrist but 2 x-rays, an MRI, 6 weeks of wearing a brace...it was just sprained ha. This pic is at the doctor's office.

We trick or treated with neighbors

Thanksgiving

I took almost no pictures at Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving Day with Brent's family, the day after with my family, watched the Aggies LOSE Friday night.

The beginning of Thanksgiving break is always A Christmas Affair, yay!

Happy 74th birthday, Pops!

The Lindemann crew

Little Bit also got her nails done! She LOVES getting fake nails. Such a diva!

We also had the AmpedUp Favorite Things party -

so ended Thanksgiving break with Christmas just like we started it, ha.

One last thing we did over Thanksgiving was decorate for Christmas!

The girls love to design the Christmas tree island, and I love how they make it look.

Christmas

As I started looking at pictures, holy cow there's a lot to cover in the Christmas season, so maybe take a bathroom break and get a new beverage to get you through. {grin}

It wouldn't be the holiday season without a trip to Houston for Brent's work party. We had a great time celebrating with friends {as always}!

The day school got out we met up with my BFF and goddaughter for a little gift exchange at a French patisserie! We always have fun together, and I love that our kids get along. Neither of our boys came but our girls always have fun!

Not Christmas related, but Brent and I snuck a trip to College Station in to watch the Aggies lose (ugh) in our first playoff game EVER. It was still fun to go to my old stomping ground!

Always fun to run into cousins!

Great seats and great company for a NOT great game

My fabulous mother-in-law treated me and the girls to The Nutcracker! I had never been and was so glad to experience it with some of my favorite ladies.

Christmas morning was a fun time at home with lots of big surprises for the kids - Paige got an iPad, Drew got an iPhone {her first!}, and Trent got A CAR!!! He took his driver test on Dec. 29 and passed, yay!

We spent Christmas dinner with Brent's family and had yummy food and a great time!

We celebrated with the Swope side on December 26 at Patty's house. The kids love being with their cousins and I love spending time with my parents and sister.

Creativity for the win for all our stockings!

We got the reaction we wanted from Mom for the Swope Seven photo shoot!

And we wrapped up 2025 by ringing in the new year with our neighborhood besties!

Happy holidays!

We've made it to July. Continued summer fun! 3 in-state family trips, cheer camp, Take Your Kid to Work with Brent, and Trent started his FIRST JOB!!!

July 4 was a subdued affair as we were all reeling from the floods in Texas and the loss of so many lives not too far from us. It rained really hard at our house but nothing like what other parts of the state got.

We didn't get to do the golf cart parade but still decorated the cart!

Our neighbors adopted 2 new kitties - the girls were so excited to go meet them!

Our newest cheerleader had her first cheer camp. She is loving it!

Take Your Kid to Work Day at LJA!

Trent also started his first job in July. He applied at a LOT of places around our little town and got hired by his #1 choice, H-E-B {which is a Texas-based grocery store chain that ALL Texans LOVE}. He's saving up to pay for some of the expenses we'll have once he gets his car {if he ever finishes his driving hours!}.

We went to see Brent's cousin, Philip, for a quick weekend trip. I didn't take any pictures except the below - we had Brent and Drew recreate a picture from a trip we took 7 years ago. These kids are growing up TOO fast!

Brent's parents and I took the kids to an exotic zoo in Johnson City. We toured LBJ State Park and properties and then spent 2 nights on the zoo property. Was great to get away for a few days - the kids had fun swimming, the zoo, being spoiled by grandparents!

Our last trip of July was our annual Swope family vacation. We added my cousin, Hagan, and her family {3 boys!} this year, so we had 8 adults and 10 kids. We rented a cabin that held everybody, had a pool/hot tub, and was a short distance to Lake LBJ. {We've stayed at this resort before with Brent's family and then for a wedding on my side of the family.} We haven't hung out as much with Hagan's family, but the kids had a great time together and all want to get together again! The kids ages were 16, 16, 16, 14, 12, 12, 12, 9, 8, 1!